Apparatus for the dry mechanical extraction of fibers from stems of textile plants



1954 A. ANGIOLINI ETAL 2,690,596

APPARATUS FOR THE DRY MECHANICAL EXTRACTION 0F FIBERS FROM STEMS 0FTEXTILE PLANTS Filed Dec. 15, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I1; ven s H H 0// 7/N \----D-- R.

Oct. 5, 1954 A. GlOLlNl ETAL 2,690,596

APPARATUS R DRY MECHANICAL EXTRA ON OF FIBE FROM STEMS 0F TEXTILE PLANFiled Dec. 15, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ina/807616 a fiq /ab'n/ R- 52/15417 WM, 222% W fiffor rjiys Patented Get. 5, 1954 APPARATUS FOR THE DRYMECHANICAL EXTRACTION F FIBERS FROM STEMS OF TEXTILE PLANTS AristideAngiolini and Renzo Barbuti, Rome, Italy Application December 15, 1950,Serial No. 201,052

Claims priority, application Italy January 12, 1950 4 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to an apparatus for the dry mechanicalextraction of fibres from the stems of textile plants.

An object of this invention is to replace the rustic setting of textileplants with its known drawbacks such as particularly the reduction ofoutput and the mechanical stress to which the material is submittedwhich causes the dispersion of a remarkable percentage of the fibrousmaterial.

The fibres obtained by the process according to the present invention,which is exclusively mechanical, are not submitted to any treatmentvarying its physical-chemical constitution; the fibers maintaintherefore all the natural characteristics of resistance and elasticity.

Furthermore, as the process according to the invention treats the fibersby merely mechanical actions, the fibers are freed from the veryvariable conditions usual ln retting and successive drying; the obtainedproduct has therefore particular characteristics of uniformity, ofresistance and of elasticity.

The process according to the invention consists in freeing the fibresfrom the stems, from the external wood or straw tissues, andsubstantially from all the incrusting substances, as well as from theinternal surrounding tissues by means of a succession of mechanicaloperations which may be summarized as follows: rolling, breaking,scutching, shaking, refining and final brushing.

For the short stemmed plants, i. e. for those whose stems are shorterthan about 60 cm., there must be added to said mechanical operations twostretching phases, one of which is before the breaking and the other andthe end of the working cycle.

The above mentioned operations render the fibres parallel, and give themfineness, softness and lustre.

It is to be noted that the essential condition for an efiicientembodiment of the process is that the stems enter under the workingelements perpendicular to the axes of the cylinders which constitutesaid working elements; the stems must be practically in a single layer.

A preferred form of an embodiment of the device allowing the process tobe carried out, is diagrammatically shown in the attached drawings,wherein:

Fig. 1 shows a side view of the entire machine;

Fig. 2 diagrammatically shows a detail of the teeth of the breakingcylinders; and

Fig. 3 diagrammatically shows the arrangement of the scutchingcylinders.

With reference to the drawing, the stems are fed in a layer on anendless conveyor belt I travelling over the rollers 2 and 3 which areoperated in any desired way.

The stems are preferably arranged in the direction of motion of the beltI and their layer must have a thickness as constant as possible; thedepth of such thickness may be established according to the workingspeed of the device.

The layer has to be continuous in the case of short stemmed plants orwhen the parallel fibres have to be collected in the form of a ribbon;the layer must be interrupted at every length of the plants in the caseof long stemmed plants or when the fibres are desired to be collected inbundles.

The length of the belt 1 depends upon the length of the stems and uponthe working speed of the machine.

The belt I feeds the stems between the pairs of cylinders 5-5', 6-6 and3l-3l', for the rolling and stretching which serves to break the wood orthe straw, particularly lengthwise and to diminish the thickness of thestem in order to facilitate its breaking.

The cylinders of each pair are elastically pressed one against the otherand the distance between the pairs of cylinders is such that the lengthof the short stemmed plants is a little shorter than such distance.

The peripheral revolution speed of the cylinders 6 and 6 is greater thanthat of the cylinders 5 and 5' so that there is a stretching of the stemribbon, which diminishes the thickness of the ribbon, while it increasesthe parallelism between said stems. A thin ribbon of parallel stems isthus formed with the stems perpendicular with respect to the workingelements which will be here below described, which allows the stems tobe Worked in a direction parallel to the direction of their motion,which constitutes an essential requirement for the efiicacy of theprocess.

Between the cylinders 5 and 6, the stems are supported by an inclinedplane 1 continuing beyond the pair of cylinders 6, in the plane '8 whichfeeds the stem layer toward the group of cylinders 9 which break thestems.

The toothed cylinders 9, arranged in pairs, crush the wood and the strawtissues, and partially pulverize and remove the incrusting substances.

The various cylinders 9 are rotated with equal peripheral speeds whichare equal to the speeds of the cylinders 3i forming the last pair ofrolling cylinders.

The teeth of the cylinders 8 are diagrammatically shown in Fig. 2showing that the thickness of the teeth at the pitch line is preferablyless or equal to a quarter of the distance between the extremities ofthe teeth, while the total length of each tooth is approximately equalto said distance.

The aforesaid distance between the teeth is a function of the diameterof the cylinder, so that the friction of the teeth on the fibres willnot be greater than the tensile strength of the latter.

An adjustment of known type allows a more or less engagement of theteeth.

lhe stems are fed by the cylinders 9 to the group of cylinders marked intheir complex by H] in Fig. 1 and which comprises cylinders H, 62, l 3and l 6 shown in greater detail in Fig. 3. Cylinders H, which are coatedwith elastic material l5 and elastically pressed one against the other(Fig. 3), feed the fibres toward the pair of cylinders I2 which scutchthe stems and detach the wood or straw awns from the mass of the brokenproduct and cause a further detachment and pulverisation of theincrusting substances.

The cylinders i comprises a pair of cylinders I2 similar to the breakingones. The teeth engage with a clearance and they rotate with aperipheral speed greater than that of the fibre ribbon. The teeth ofsaid cylinders, owing to the clearance provided, act as spatules on thefibers, and scrape the fibres so that the wood awns are split away.

After the group of scutching cylinders i2, a pair of cylinders 53, thesurface of which is ;ted with a layer of elastic material Hi, and whichare resiliently pressed one against the other exerts the necessarytraction on the fibres.

It to be noted that the peripheral speed of the 3 is slightly less thanthat of the pair i i so that the fibres are not tensioned.

Two other toothed cylinders are engaged with the teeth of the cylinders42. Said cylinders have their shafts displaced outwardly with respect tothe motion direction of the fibres at a distance which is determinedaccording to the feeding speed, to the distance of the cylinders H fromthe cylinders E3 and to the dimensions of the seutching cylinders.

The purpose of the cylinders I6 is that of treating the terminal portionof the stems when these leave the cylinders I2. fact the rear end of theshorter stems when released by cylinders H engage the teeth of cylindersi2 rotating at a speed greater than that of cylinders H, and are broughtinto engagement with the teeth of cylinders I5. Since the fore end ofthe said stems is drawn by cylinders i3, the rear end of the stemsundergoes a scutching between cylinders l2 and [6.

After the group of scutching cylinders the fibre ribbon falls on a netconveying element il traveling over the cylinders l8 and I9 and which isvibrated by a vibrator device 20.

The net lets the wooden residues that the st utching has detached fromthe fibres fall, which residues lall on an inclined plane 2|, whichremoves them from the machine.

The conveying net 17 then brings the product between a series ofcylinders 22, lengthwise grooved with very fine and thick grooves; theperipheral speed of said cylinders being equal to the feeding speed ofthe fibre layer. Said series of cylinders pulverizes and removes almostall of the residue incrusting substances. and softens and subdivides thefibrous bundles.

Also, the group of cylinders 22 may be re As a matter of placed by oneor more pairs of scutching cylinders, similar to those described andindicated at 10.

The last pair of cylinders of either one or the other type, is formed bycylinders grooved perpendicuiar to the axes of the cylinders, in orderto subdivide the ribbon of fibres into bundles and to facilitate thework of the following brushes.

The process continues with a brushing phase which removes the lastresidues of the incrusting substances and of the extraneous tissues fromthe fibres, which might have been left in the fibrous mass.

Said phase furthermore subdivides minutely the fibres, gives themlustre, and softens them.

The operation is carried out by means of a pair of cylindrical brushes23 rotating with a speed greater than that of the ribbon of fibres"which is conveyed and pulled by two pairs of cylinders 24 and 25.

The brushing unit is formed by the cylinders 23, which are preferablycylindrical brushes of animal or vegetable hair, or of metallicelements, without transverse interruptions.

The distance between the shafts of the cylinders 23 is adjustable. Therear end of the fibers when released by cylinders 24, engage the surfaceof brushing cylinders 23 and are brought, due to the rotation ofcylinders 23, under the action of the metal sheets 26 which areelastically pressed by means of a device not shown, against the brushingcylinders 23. Since the fore end of the fibers are drawn by cylinders25. the rear end of the fibers undergo a further brushing betweencylinders 23 and metallic sheets 25.

The complex of the brushing cylinders is conin a casing 2? in whichoperates an exiaust fan 28 in order to remove the pulverulent materialproduced by the brushing.

In case the fibres under treatment are short. a further pair ofcylinders 29 stretches the fibres coming from the cylinders 25.

For this purpose the peripheral speed of the gylinders 29 is greaterthan that of the cylinders The ribbon of fibres coming from thecylinders 29 falls on a conveying belt 30 which leads it out of themachine.

We claim:

1. An apparatus for the dry mechanical extraction of fibers from thestems of textile plants comprising, in combination, a continuousstemifeeding belt, an inclined plane receiving the stems from said belt,an assembly of rolling and stretching cylinders including one pair ofcylinders disposed at the upper end, one pair disposed at the lower endof said inclined plane, and one pair of cylinders intermediate the saidupper and lower pairs of cylinders, said rolling and stretchingcylinders having a smooth surface, a piurality of breaking cylindersdisposed in pairs with interengaging teeth in each pair, said breakingcylinders being disposed higher than said lower pair of said rolling andstretching cylinders, along a curved path, and having the same speed asaid rolling and stretching cylinders, a plurality of cylindersvertically disposed under said breaking cylinders comprising a pair offeeding cylinders coated with resilient material, a pair of scutchingcylinders having teeth intermeshwith clearance rotating at a peripheralspeed greater than the advancing speed of the stems. a pair of drawingcylinders coated with resilient material receiving the stems from saidscutching cylinders, a conveying net located horizontally with an endbelow said last mentioned drawing cylinders, a plurality of cylinders atthe other end of said conveying net, the latter cylinders being providedwith longitudinal grooves and rotating at a peripheral speed equal tothe advancing speed of said stems, a pair of cylinders provided withgrooves perpendicular to the axes thereof to subdivide the layer offibers resulting irom said stems in bundles and a plurality of brushingcylinders to remove the residues of incrusting materials and tosubdivide and soften the fibers and means for carrying out of theapparatus the fibers coming from said brushing cylinders.

2. An apparatus for the dry mechanical extraction of fibers from thestems of textile plants comprising, in combination, a continuousstemfeeding belt, an inclined plane receiving the stems from said belt,an assembly of rolling and stretching cylinders including one pair ofcylinders disposed at the upper end, one pair disposed at the lower endof said inclined plane, and one pair of cylinders intermediate the saidupper and lower pairs of cylinders, said rolling and stretchingcylinders having a smooth surface, a plurality of breaking cylindersdisposed in pairs with interengaging teeth in each pair, said breakingcylinders being disposed higher than said lower pair of said rolling andstretching cylinders, along a curved path, and having the same speed assaid rolling and stretching cylinders, a plurality of cylindersvertically disposed in alignment with said breaking cylinders comprisinga pair of feeding cylinders coated with resilient material, a pair ofscutching cylinders provided with teeth intermeshing with clearancerotating at a peripheral speed greater than the advancing speed of saidstems, a pair of drawing cylinders coated with resilient materialreceiving the fibers from said scutching cylinders, a conveying 'nethorizontally disposed with an end under said drawing cylinders lastmentioned, a plurality of cylinders at the other end of the conveyingnet, the last mentioned cylinders being provided with longitudinalgrooves and rotating at a peripheral speed equal to the advancing speedof the stems, a pair of cylinders provided with grooves perpendicular tothe axes thereof disposed following said cylinders with longitudinalgrooves to subdivide the layer of fibers resulting from said stems inbundles, a plurality of cylinders comprising a pair of cylindricalbrushes rotating at a speed greater than the advancing speed of thefibers, a pair of cylinders feeding the fibers to said cylindricalbrushes and a pair of drawing cylinders for the fibers coming from thecylindrical brushes, two metallic strips cooperating with said brushes,and means for carrying out of the apparatus the fibers coming from saidcylindrical brushes.

3. An apparatus for the dry mechanical extraction of fibers from thestems of textile plants comprising, in combination, a continuousstemfeeding belt, an inclined plane receiving the stems from said belt,an assembly of rolling and stretching cylinders including one pair ofcylinders disposed at the upper end, one pair disposed at the lower endof said inclined plane, and one pair of cylinders intermediate the saidupper and lower pairs of cylinders, said rolling and stretchingcylinders having a smooth surface, a plurality of breaking cylindersdisposed in pairs with interengaging teeth in each pair, said breakingcylinders being disposed higher than said lower pair of 6, said rollingand stretching cylinders, along a curved path, and having the same speedas said rolling and stretching cylinders, a plurality of cylindersvertically disposed in alignment with said breaking cylinders comprisinga pair of feeding cylinders coated with resilient material, a pair ofscutching cylinders provided with teeth intermeshing with clearancerotating at a peripheral speed greater than the advancing speed of saidstems, a pair of toothed cylinders engaging the teeth of said scutchingcylinders having their axes offset with respect to the axes of saidscutching cylinders, a pair of drawing cylinders coated with resilientmaterial receiving said stems from said scutching cylinders, a conveyingnet horizontally disposed having one end below said last mentioneddrawing cylinders, a plurality of cylinders at the other end of saidconveying net, said last mentioned cylinders having longitudinal groovesand rotating at a peripheral speed equal to the advancing speed of saidstems, a pair of cylinders having grooves perpendicular to the axesthereof disposed following said longitudinally grooved cylinders tosubdivide the layer of fibers resulting from said stems in bundles, aplurality of cylinders comprising a pair of cylindrical brushes rotatingat a speed greater than the advancing speed of the fibers, a pair ofdrawing cylinders for the fibers coming from said cylindrical brushes,two metallic strips cooperating with said brushes, a second pair ofdrawing cylinders rotating at a speed greater than the speed of saidlast mentioned drawing cylinders and a conveying belt receiving thefibers from said second pair of drawing cylinders to carry the same outof the apparatus.

4. An apparatus for the dry mechanical extraction of fibers from thestems of textile plants comprising, in combination, a continuousstemfeeding belt, an inclined plane receiving the stems from said belt,an assembly of rolling and stretching cylinders including one pair ofcylinders disposed at the upper end, one pair disposed at the lower endof said inclined plane, and one pair of cylinders intermediate the saidupper and lower pairs of cylinders, said rolling and stretchingcylinders having a smooth surface, a plurality of breaking cylindersdisposed in pairs with interengaging teeth in each pair, said breakingcylinders being disposed higher than said lower pair of said rolling andstretching cylinders, along a curved path, and having the same speed assaid rolling and stretching cylinders, a plurality of cylindersvertically disposed in alignment with said breaking cylinders comprisinga pair of feeding cylinders coated with resilient material, a pair ofscutching cylinders provided with teeth intermeshing with clearancerotating at a peripheral speed greater than the advancing speed of saidstems, a pair of toothed cylinders engaging the teeth of said scutchingcylinders having their axes offset with respect to the axes of saidscutching cylinders, the teeth of said breaking cylinders, saidscutching cylinders and said offset cylinders having a thickness at thepitch line not greater than a quarter of the distance between theextremities of the teeth and having a height equal to said distance, apair of drawing cylinders coated with resilient material receiving saidstems from said scutching cylinders, a vibrating conveying nethorizontally disposed having one end below said drawing cylinders lastmentioned, a plurality of cylinders at the other end of said conveyingnet having longitudinal grooves and rotating at a peripheral speed equalto the advancing speed of said stems, a pair of cylinders having groovesperpendicular to the axes thereof disposed following said longitudinallygrooved cylinders to subdivide the layer of fibers resulting from saidstems in bundles, a plurality of cylinders comprising a pair ofcylindrical brushes rotating at a speed greater than the advancing speedof the fibers, a pair of drawing cylinders for the fibers coming fromsaid cylindrical brushes, two metallic strips cooperating with saidbrushes, a second pair of drawing cylinders rotating at a speed greaterthan the speed of said last mentioned drawing cylinders and a conveyingbelt receiving the fibers from said second pair of drawing cylinders tocarry the same out of the apparatus.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number5 358,827 1,308,376 1,722,110 2,197,683

10 Number Name Date Angell Mar. 8, 1887 Schlichten July 1, 1919Pritchard July 23, 1929 Burkardt Apr. 16, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS CountryDate France Aug. 9, 1943

